THIS refers to government’s decision to replace the ‘open sky’ policy with bilateral agreements on basis of reciprocity with foreign airlines.

From restoring confidence of travelling public, to attracting back lost loyal clientele, it will be an uphill task, which requires a management dominated by qualified professionals. The management should be well versed in dynamics of commercial aviation, passenger demands, importance of reliability of schedules and offering passengers a consumer-friendly online sales and computerised booking system.

It is unfortunate that there seems to be no business plan for a change in state-owned enterprises like PIA.

In times of emergency, PIA has provided Pakistan with vital strategic logistics support.

The ambitious proposed business plan presented to the prime minister is not much different than the replicated previous such plans which failed to achieve revenue targets.

The newly-adopted Turkish GDS maybe saving expenditures but it is causing serious issues in purchasing tickets; missing coupons at the time of departure and a cumbersome client-unfriendly procedure for change in booking, non-availability of interline connectivity and serious issues in refunds.

This will become an impediment in boosting passenger sales to achieve profitability or break even. Most transactions are not reported in the revenue accounting system and incomplete transactions are being reported which may cause losses. This must be remedied.

M. Tariq
Lahore

Published in Dawn, April 15th, 2019